brooks



(No Model.)

"B. J. BROOKS.

POST OFFICE HAND STAMP.

Patented Aug. 23, 1892.

amvewboz Ha "Will/IA l? ala/ h B who 014014 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE E. J. BROOKS & COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

POST-OFFICE HAN D-STAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 481,296, dated August 23, 1892.

Application filed July 24, 1891. Serial No. 400,614. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Post-Office Hand Stamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements on those hand-stamps now in use by the Post- Office Department for canceling postagestamps and postmarking mail, each of which combines stamp-canceling and postmarking or dating devices, hereinafter termed, respectively, the canceler and the dater.

The objects of the present invention are to facilitate obtaining permanent lettering of a superior and uniform quality and to reduce the cost of manufacturing such stamps of given description or grade.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of a postmark and canceling impression with a perspective View of a hand-stamp ap propriate thereto, illustrating this invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of some of the metallic parts of the stamp represented by Fig. 1 as they appear before being assembled, including one of the permanent type hereinafter described, and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the same parts assembled.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

In the specific double stamp represented by the drawings the permanent lettering a of the dater D is formed by means of permanent type t, Figs. 2 and 3, each having a single character c on the face end of acylindrical body. Blanks for these type are cut to gage from round rod-steel of proper diameter, and the face end is swaged by means of a suitable die or dies in a screw-press to provide it with the appropriate character. It is thus possible with a single set of engraved dies to produce permanent type in any required quantity by unskilled labor. To provide for using such type to form said permanent lettering, the face to be lettered is pitted with cylindrical sockets 8, Figs. 2 and 3, drilled to gage both as to position and as to depth, and into these sockets the appropriate type t are pressed or driven, being tightly fitted thereto, so as to require no separate fastening. Said permanent lettering a encircles the changeable lettering b of the dater D and is in turn surrounded by the customary marginal border-printing projection 10, which, together with the sunken field within it, is readily cut in the lathe by a turning or milling operation, preparatory to drilling the sockets s for the permanent type t, as above.

All the principal metallic parts of the improved double stamp are adapted to be made from rod and plate steel and iron in such a manner as to materially reduce the cost of manufacture without in any manner detracting from the efficiency and durability of the stamp. The improved stamp comprises a dater D, the body of which, shown detached at D in Fig. 2, is produced from round rodsteel of suitable diameter in the following manner: A blank of suitable length is cut from the rod and a drill is run through the blank axially from end to end. A countersink drill of larger diameter, not exceeding the width of the socket 8 for changeable type is then run into the blank from the face end to the proper depth to complete the necksocket s, Fig. 3, within which the lower tang of a double-ended rivet 7', made from round rod-iron, is at once made fast by heading it within the countersink left by the drill last named. Said socket s for changeable type is next enlarged and squared by suitable drifts or other cutters. A small disk-shaped mill is then introduced, and a circular enlargement e to free the inner end of said socket from angles liable to become filled with dirt is thereby cut at the required distance from the top of the blank, and the abutment for the changeable type, formed in part by said rivethead within the blank, is trued at one and the same operation. As the particular dater-body shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 has a peripheral flange or collar 0', the diameter of this collar determines the diameter of the rod and blank and a hollow mill next shapes the exterior of the blank. Its face end is then cut, as above, so as to form its marginal projection 19 and the field within the latter at the proper distance from said abutment for the changeable type, and, finally, said sockets s for the permanent type t are drilled, and these type are pressed or driven into place to complete the body of the dater. A hole 72 Fig. 2, to receive the customary screw 3 Fig. 1, for tightening the changeable type maybe drilled and tapped at any preferred stage of the process. The (later-body is now attached by means of the upper tang of said rivet 0' to a cross-bar B, of plate-steel, which has previously been stamped out, punched at W, 72, and 7t, Fig. 2, countersunk at ]b2 and h Fig. 3, and at 7L3, Fig. 2, and it may be united with the handletaug .2, made from square rod-iron, by arivettang 'r' at the lower end of said handle-tang, fitted to said countersunk hole h and headed at the bottom of the bar 13. Said upper tang of the rivet r is fitted to the hole 7L2 and headed at the top of the bar. A screw (not shown) passing downward through the hole 7L attaches the canceler O in an ordinary manner, and a Wooden handle A, applied to saidtang .2, completes the stamp.

Ordinary type secured in the customary manner may be employed for the changeable lettering Z), and details which have not been specified maybe of any approved description.

Having thus described the said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this speciiication 1. An improved double hand-stamp for post- 30 offices having a handle A, the within-described handle-tang z, the cross-bar B, having the countersunk holes 7L2 7L3 7L, a canceler 0, attached to said cross-bar at h", the double-ended rivet 0*, attached to said crossbar at 7L2, and a dater D, having the countersunk neck-socket s filled by the lower end of said rivet r, the socket s for movable type, and the socket-enlargement a, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

2. The improved double hand-stamp for post-offices, composed of the handle A, the handle-tang z, the cross-bar B, having the countersunk holes 71 71, 7b, a canceler O, attached to said cross-bar at h, the doubleended rivet 7-, attached to said cross-bar at 7L2, and the dater D, having the countersunk neck-socket s filled by the lower end of said rivet r, the socket s for movable type, and the socket-enlargement (2, provided with permanent type i, having cylindrical bodies immovably held within sockets in the daterbody perpendicular to its face, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDXVARD J. BROOKS.

lVituesses:

ll. L. C. WENK, Gno. .T. WENK. 

